Carlitos please, or Charlie, that also works. But Carlos? So he doesn't want to be named. "That sounds so serious," says Carlos Alcaraz. "As if I had done something wrong."
- in Madrid his most magical trick so far
- The extraordinary: The competition grants him
- Compare with Nadal? Alcaraz thinks more of Federer
- head, heart, eggs
- the opponents waited for nerve flutter - in vain
- Zverev has misjudged
He doesn't feel grown up shortly after his 19th birthday. After all, as a teenager you can also be the best tennis player in the world. This is exactly how the competitors describe him, and they need to know. For Novak Djokovic it is "no question", and Alexander Zverev repeated it several times last weekend.
"Even if you are only five years old," overcover Zverev, after having been without a chance in the final of Madrid, "you beat us all". That in turn was not exaggerated. It is great for the sport to have a new superstar.
in Madrid his most magical trick so far
Alcaraz smiled proudly, applauded and returned the compliments: the German would rise to number one in the world and win many Grand slams. Zverev laughed so incredulously that one could think you could read your thoughts: "Not when du plays," he might think. The Spaniard hurried to add: "No, I don't mean that as fun."
Carlos Alcaraz has disenchanted the competition. At the same time, it seems as if he had enchanted the assembled crowd: tennis fans, experts and those who count themselves. They are all fond of the new child prodigy.
At the Masters in Madrid, his most magical trick so far: to defeat three of the top five in the world rankings three in a row. Against Rafael Nadal (6: 2, 1: 6, 6: 3), an injury did not stop him, the semi -finals against Djokovic (6: 7, 7: 5, 7: 6) balanced on the knife for three and a half hours.
And in the final, Zverev was shown in such a way that even the domestic audience had hoped for a little more excitement. "Even if I had been fresh and rested, I would probably not have defeated him," said the inferior, who is usually not suspected of being a particularly good loser.
The extraordinary: The competition grants him
"He plays hungry. As if he had nothing to lose," says Stefanos Tsitsipas, another top five player. "I don't think he's stopped," says Nadal. "He has all the ingredients it needs. Passion, modesty - he is a good guy." That is actually extraordinary: Although almost all of him have been overtaken, everyone seems to be able to treat their success on the tour Alcaraz littered by egoists. When the year 2021 started, the ATP noted the Spaniard in 141. This year only Nadal has collected more points than his compatriot.
Alcaraz has started individually since the beginning of the year, 28 times his opponents had to congratulate him. An incredible quota. As for the skills on the network, the volleys and the defensive game, the Spaniard offers the highest that tennis is currently offering. In addition: Alcaraz is immense quickly. Tsitsipas, in turn, found after his match win at the US Open that he had never seen someone who strikes the ball as hard as Alcaraz.
Also from the shooting star of the opposite sex comes: "He is really graceful, yes elegant," says the 19-year-old US Open winner Emma Raducanu. "When you watch him, it looks like he would fly through the air."
Early practices: 10 -year -old Alcaraz in 2014 at the "Open Super 12" in Auray, French. Imago/Panoramic
Compare with Nadal? Alcaraz thinks more of Federer
Born in Murcia in southeastern Spain, he trained early and a lot. His father also had the goal of becoming a tennis professional at the time, but it was not enough. Alcaraz Junior not only fulfills his own dreams today. It is also those of Alcaraz Senior. Since he was 15 years old, Carlos has had the former world ranking of Juan Carlos Ferrero as a coach at his side, who brings patience and is praising his protégé publicly: "No matter what the covering he is playing, his level is always there," said Ferrero Half a year ago in an ATP interview. "That impressed me at the beginning. And it still does."
Ferrero won exactly a Grand Slam tournament in his career: the French Open 2003. Exactly there, in Paris, his protégé will only start for the second time next Monday. In 2021 he made it into the 3rd round in the debut, this time he is considered der top favorite in view of the current form-even before the 13-time winner Nadal.
Sand is considered the potentially strongest surface for Alcaraz, so the question arises: Will he put a similar career as his famous compatriot? Such comparisons across generations do not help anyone, and especially those with Nadal does not want to hear Alcaraz. Not only because of the pressure: "My style is more or less that of Roger Federer," emphasized the then 16-year-old in early 2020, "aggressively come to the net and play a lot of stops".
The stop balls, yes. In the first set of the Madrid Final against Zverev, six out of six forehand stops led to a point for Alcaraz. The one -sided part of the match only came afterwards.
head, heart, eggs
Alcaraz brings the courage that some observers missed in the big moments at Zverev, at Tsitsipas and also at Daniil Medvedev. From Alcaraz you can see two poses again and again these days and weeks: the bent upper arm with tense biceps, plus a grimly determined look. Sometimes he sticks his index finger to his temple and signals: everything is a matter of the head.
His grandfather, the Spaniard likes to tell him, always told him: Cabeza, Corazón, Cojones - head, heart, eggs -, it depends on that. No matter which level: you can always try a crashing topspin on the line. And this signless forehand stop always works anyway.
In the first set of the semi -finals against Djokovic, Alcaraz was exposed to two set balls against him. It was 4: 6 in the tie -break, the maximum pressure situation when - this time with the backhand - he conjured up a highly demanding stop out of his hat and placed the Ball Longline directly behind the net. Corazón and Cojones played the bigger role.
the opponents waited for nerve flutter - in vain
Little edified for the competition: of all things, its greatest weakness can be remedied by training: Alcaraz could use more surcharge variations, more direct service points, more aces. In contrast, game intelligence, courage, what is already plentiful is difficult to train.
In the beginning, his matches went like roller coaster trips. It happened that he lost a set 0: 6 and won the game in the end. When Alcaraz took their run in late autumn, the opponents waited for nerve and inexperience to be felt at some point. Only: that didn't happen. Alcaraz also wins the tight games. The one you usually lose as a 19-year-old.
Like a mature computer program, he regularly makes the right decisions on the pitch, plays the right blows. While the generation of Zverev, Medvedev and Dominic Thiem struggled to the top of the world for every little step, Alcaraz did it much too early. As if he could just have skipped three development steps. As if someone had entered a cheat code before pressing the tennis simulation at the start.
Zverev has misjudged
Undoubtedly it will not go on like this forever. Alcaraz is also going through shape lows like everyone else before him. With his extremely stable physique and psyche, he should be able to cushion the bumps of a tennis career.
"I think he will have arrived in the top 10 by 2024," said Alexander Zverev, after he had clearly defeated Alcaraz in March 2021 in Acapulco, 6: 3 and 6: 1. "It wasn't the last time I was playing against him."
As is well known, the German was right with the last statement. He misjudged something with the other. Because Alcaraz defeated him in Madrid (exactly: 6: 3 and 6: 1), the sixth of the world rankings is already called in May 2022: Carlos Alcaraz. Pardon, Carlitos.
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